Arizona Camp Nov 2021: How to read your opponents game, then destroy it with Chris Paines
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Archive for month: March, 2022
Arizona Camp Nov 2021: “Oh No” plata with Matthew McPeake
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Arizona Camp Nov 2021: Aoki Lock – Sneaky foot locks from the most unlikely places! with Jay Pages
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Featured Camp Instructor: Ryan Fennelly – BJJ Globetrotters
Ryan Fennelly – BJJ Globetrotters
Age: 37
Belt: Black
Profession: Public Insurance Adjuster, Boxing/MMA Commissioner
City/country: Manchester, NH (USA)
Main achievements in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:
3x Naga champion. Teaching weekly class at Team Burgess MMA. Running a successful competition team with Team Burgess MMA.
Which Globetrotters camps have you attended?
Maine (2016,2017,2018,2019,2021)
Iceland (2018,2021)
Germany (2019),
Arizona (2019),
St. Barts (2021).
Which camp has been your favorite so far?
Maine camp 2021 was great. After sneaking around to train during the pandemic it was great to see some old friends and have such a large group openly training in Maine. The masks weren’t a discussion for the first time in a long time. The pub crawl was foolishly awesome and the personalities will set the bar quite high for “best camp ever”.
Ryan Fennelly – BJJ Globetrotters Camp
Favorite stories/moments from the camps?
- Throwing a cabin party at an early Maine camp to the disappointment and frustration of the older cabin mates. I was playing the assassins game and could not be squirted in my own cabin. What better way to enjoy the festivities while being safe than inviting everyone over to party.
- Seeing a fairly quiet student of mine (Connor) become the life of the party. By the end of camp people were chanting his name in hopes of hearing him sing to us once more.
- Getting the police called on us in Germany for not leaving the bar ontime. The barkeep asked us to vacate quite a few times but we weren’t ready to leave. No one ended up in trouble.
- Showing up to Maine camp (actually was in New Hampshire) in 2016 to find people wearing blonde curly wigs and impersonating Christian. He missed camp due to a child being born and sent a wig and cardboard cutout of himself in his absence. I won’t share the details of what happened to the cardboard cutout by the end of the week.
Your favorite class/classes to teach at camp?
My favorite class to teach is called “knee’d to know basis”. It is a shin-to-shin half guard system that seems to get people thinking out of the box a bit.
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Ryan Fennelly – BJJ Globetrotters instructor
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Featured affiliated academy: Rino Academy, BJJ Mexico
Where is the gym located?
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. We are located in the northern part of Mexico, a 2.5 hour drive from Texas.
How many people train there?
Around 40 – 55 (40 regulars).
Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
Yes! Seven years ago we opened the first location, and since then we now have 4 locations. Each academy has a different number of new students. For instance, our first place has more new students. It’s been hard since the other 3 locations opened during the Covid pandemic.
What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
We currently have around 50 students. The highest ranked are 2 brown belts, and there are 7 consistent purple belts that keep a good training level at the academy. Mostly blue belts (15) and white belts (29) make up the team.
When did Rino Academy, BJJ Mexico open?
It started in August 2015, founded by our lead coach Aaron Fernández when he was a purple belt. Aaron is now currently a brown belt 4 degrees, under the guidance of Professor Bruno Mendes.
Some facts about you:
Name: Aaron Fernandez
Age: 31 years old
Belt: brown belt 4 stripes
Profession: Chemical Engineer
Years in BJJ: 15 years
Other martial arts: Muay Thai
Currently living in: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Originally from: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence
Rino Academy was founded by Aaron Fernandez due to the necessity of integrating a competitive team downtown in Monterrey, Nuevo León. The main objective of founding the team was to win state local tournaments, prestigious tournaments in the country, and worldwide.
Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
It’s a random mix of personalities from teens to people in their 40s, everyone united by Jiu Jitsu. We have two types of classes: for newcomers and for advanced. Newcomers classes range from learning to fall, to specific movements. The advanced class ranges from competition-specific exercises with some conditioning and sparring.
Why do they train in Rino Academy, BJJ Mexico?
To learn self defence and conditioning, and the sense of belonging.
What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
In Mexico specifically, people are not very conscious of a combat sport culture based on ground fighting. Grappling involves too much body contact and people tend to think of it as something sexual. The greatest challenge is explaining and convincing folks that Jiu Jitsu has nothing sexual about it. The UFC and MMA in general have helped change this perception.
Another challenge we faced in the past was not having matching ideas or values. In 2019 we joined the Soul Fighters Association and we were a perfect match.
How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
The BJJ and grappling community is growing. In 2015 the first Rino Academy was founded; today there are 4 training facilities in different parts of the city. The future plan is to expand in all towns in the state, and we would love to have an academy in every state in Mexico, with the sole purpose of teaching Jiu Jitsu everywhere in the country.
What’s the best thing about Rino Academy, BJJ Mexico?
Brotherhood. From the moment you step on the mat you can notice that there is a brotherhood in the team. We always seek to integrate and incorporate all our colleagues to create a good experience for them.
What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
Monterrey is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains which make for exceptional natural sightseeing adventures and easy day trips. There are also plenty of museums and delicious restaurants to enjoy. Come and roll with us, we would love to show you around!
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Thanks for sharing! If you’d like to visit Rino Academy, BJJ Mexico, you can find them here.
Featured Traveller: Anton Bulkin – BJJ Globetrotters
Age: 31
Belt: Blue
How many years in BJJ: 6
Other martial arts: Sambo, boxing
Where do you live: Blantyre, Scotland
Where are you from: Narva, Estonia
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I took a silver medal in the Estonian adult boxing championship in 2009 by losing all my matches.
Anton Bulkin – BJJ Globetrotters
Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
When I first tried Sambo in 2014 in Glasgow, I fell in love with it straight away. We had a lot of BJJ practitioners coming to improve their stand up and I was invited by one of them to try a BJJ class. I turned up in my red Sambo kurtka and was asked by the coach if my red belt means if I am a master. I found this question bizarre, as in Sambo, as well as in boxing, colour simply depends on a draw. Nevertheless, I had to take my first class without a belt. For the next class I turned up with a brand new BJJ white belt and since then started to combine both sports, which I like equally.
I became close friends with the Sambo guys. We’ve been competing in Highland Games backhold wrestling competitions and then travelling around Scotland together. At nighttime after the long hikes, we’ve been opening a bottle of whiskey and having endless martial arts chats. Experiencing friendship, adventures, and having a common passion opened a new world for me.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
Since I was a kid I’ve always been a big fan of the Balkans. A few years ago I travelled with a friend to Montenegro, which is tiny but has so much to offer to a visitor. We travelled the whole country together by car in three days. It was such a fantastic experience that I decided to come back next year and find a club which has BJJ classes.
I’ve now travelled to Montenegro three times and trained BJJ there – even the strictest travel restrictions haven’t stopped me! Montenegrins are very welcoming people and it is a pleasure to share a mat with them. At the same time it is a very tall nation, and even a round with a white belt with no experience can be super challenging. The gym location is perfect and there is no better feeling in the world than jumping in the sea after solid rounds and then chilling at a rooftop bar with a fancy cocktail.
For the next adventure I’m planning to return to the Balkans and cross the peninsula, travelling from the Bulgarian coastline to the Adriatics with Montenegro being the final destination, visiting as many Jiu Jitsu academies as possible. I’ve also booked two camps in 2022 – Spring Camp in Tallinn and Summer Camp in Heidelberg, where my aim is to meet as many fellow globetrotters as I can.
Anton Bulkin – BJJ Globetrotters
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
After my first BJJ Globetrotters camp in 2019, I went to Malta for two weeks where I had booked the cheapest hotel with the most awful reviews on Tripadvisor. But I couldn’t care less because I knew that there is a BJJ gym in the basement.
I spent most of my day by the pool reading Christian’s book. Every night at 7pm I was putting my gi on and heading down to the gym, proudly passing the girls I’d been hanging out with in the party district after the class.
The gym was run by two Belgian brothers who maintained strict discipline in the gym and turned white belts into killers. The most impressive thing about the club was that it was so diverse that I could not find two persons of the same nationality other than the actual coaches. Every session was tough, but the gym is located in Paceville, Malta’s party district, so I was having my pint straight after washing my gi and often with a person who was trying to choke me out just minutes before.
What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
In 2016, I travelled with my Sambo coach to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, to see the Cossack national games called Shermicii. This is essentially a celebration of the Cossack culture gathered in the middle of Don River steppe. Part of the games is a belt wrestling competition, which has similarities with Scottish Backhold wrestling.
I never realised that I ended up being a part of the Scottish team. We were met with hospitality I’ve never experienced before. People were so friendly and nobody wanted to miss a chance to take a picture with a man in a kilt! The main event of the festival was a belt wrestling match between a huge kilted Scotsman and a massive Russian lad. A huge crowd gathered to watch the battle of the giants!
Three months later the Cossack team visited Glasgow’s World Bagpipe Championship, where we competed against them in Scottish Backhold wrestling. The decision was quickly made by me and my mates to go back to Russia next year.
When we arrived we felt like celebrities, with local TV channels filming us and newspapers asking us for an interview. We spent just a few days in Rostov and managed to compete and host a couple of events about telling people about Scotland. One of my friends ended up marrying a girl he met during the trip, and another started learning Russian to impress her hot friend. We then travelled on the train for over 30 hours to St Petersburg with a long stop in Moscow, finishing our trip in Estonia.
Anton Bulkin – BJJ Globetrotters
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Mostly. I travel as a solo traveller, which allows me to have longer holidays by staying in budget accommodation. However, I still like having some fancy experiences.
After the Tallinn Fall Camp 2021, a few guys still stayed in Estonia, so we decided to meet in Tartu and have a night out there. We managed to have a few rounds at the local gym and then checked in a fancy penthouse where we watched The Gentle Art of Travel documentary while having some nice champagne.
In the morning I realised that all the tickets to my next destination were sold out, and I had to stay in Tartu for one more night. I checked into a hostel where I stayed in a 16-bed mixed dorm where I met some cool people as well.
The key for me is to stay disciplined with finances during my travels.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
First of all, you need to be open to the new opportunities which are brought by the people you meet during the trip. New friends can open doors for new experiences.
Secondly, visiting Scotland is a great idea. Feel free to drop me a message if it’s already on your list!
Thank you to Anton Bulkin – BJJ Globetrotters for making this interview!
Arizona Camp Nov 2021: Spiderguard with Lisa Pages
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